STATE OF POWER 2018

Building feminist counter-power: In for the long haul

Nina Power

The older I get, the more I wonder how it is that in a world filled with compassionate, intelligent people, we nevertheless end up with the most venal, corrupt, soul-dead men and women in charge. Is it that most of us are too nice, too socialized into politeness to stand up to the bullies and sadists?

How was it, in particular, not possible to stop Donald Trump? Even those Republicans who thought he might have defended their political interests could surely see what a terrible idea it would be to have him in charge of anything, be it his Twitter account or the nuclear codes. Why did they not organize in secret and make it impossible for him to win the nomination, let alone the election?

In this short essay, I want to address the issue of ‘socialization’ – among other things, how we are instructed, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, to accept our own oppression, and to not ‘make a fuss’.

It is feminism that teaches us best how to analyse this, because historically it is women who have been taught to play this mediating role, to smooth over disagreement, to flatter and to acquiesce. There are many women who do not follow the script, and they are often punished for it. How best can we think about this most secret and insidious form of education?

Women's liberation: an unfinished revolution

In 1966, Juliet Mitchell, on the cusp of the feminist second wave in the UK, wrote ‘Women: The Longest Revolution’, in which she argued that ‘the liberation of women can only be achieved if all four structures in which they [women] are integrated are transformed – Production, Reproduction, Sexuality and Socialization’.

The liberation of women can only be achieved if all four structures in which they [women] are integrated are transformed – Production, Reproduction, Sexuality and Socialization - Juliet Mitchell

It is only, Mitchell suggests, by looking at women’s economic, social, sexual and political circumstances together that emancipation from both exploitation and oppression could be achieved. How do production, reproduction, sexuality and socialization overlap and intertwine? How are they lived similarly and differently by women of different economic and ethnic backgrounds?

We must be able to think through how women have been brought into the workforce, often for less money and on worse contracts than men, and how capitalism depends both on women’s waged labour (production) but also on the reproduction of the social (everything from the birth of new human beings to looking after and caring for others, to feeding, clothing, educating and ensuring that the workforce is able to sell its labour power).

Sexuality has perhaps been a social success story in many ways since the mid-1960s, particularly the widespread acceptance of same-sex relationships, yet male desire and entitlement continues to dominate female lives in extremely damaging ways. None of Mitchell’s structures has been fully transformed: feminist counter-power still has a long way to go – it is indeed the ‘longest’ revolution.

The category of care, in particular, must become a central feature of our politics. As we debate the possibilities and future of automation, we cannot forget, as the 2011 ILO ‘Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers’, put it, that

'… domestic work continues to be undervalued and invisible and is mainly carried out by women and girls, many of whom are migrants or members of disadvantaged communities and who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in respect of conditions of employment and of work, and to other abuses of human rights…'

Alongside discussions of automation, we must recognize the gendered and racialized history of care work, and work to revalue (both socially and economically) all the work (paid and unpaid) that goes into keeping human life going.

New feminist militancy

I want to suggest that feminism, not uniquely so among perspectives we might adopt, but in important and specific ways, gives us multiple ways of understanding the reality of the world. What the past few years has shown us, precisely because things are so bad, so monopolized by abusive men – for whom domination over women is part and parcel of cultural, social and political life – is that women will stand and fight when their rights are under siege.

In Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and other Latin American countries, the #NiUnoMenos (‘not one less’) movement against femicide, which began in 2015, following decades of feminist organizing against sex-based violence against women, took to the streets over and over again.

The global Women’s March in January 2017, comprising almost 700 protests worldwide, drew inspiration from this movement, as well as from the horror inspired by the election of the US president of a self-confessed sexual abuser and the legitimate fear of the rollback of women’s reproductive rights. Various women’s strikes, particularly on International Women’s Day (8 March) sought to draw up the economic and social dimensions of both women’s oppression as well as their exploited role as paid and unpaid workers.

There is a new feminist militancy on the streets, across the globe and in the air. The #metoo movement has started to state openly what was always known, and there is no doubt that things will shift and continue to shift (though it should be noted that it originally started in 2006, when US activist Tarana Burke used the phrase to discuss sexual assault and abuse).

Historically, feminism has of course had to interrogate its own starting points and assumptions – what about the relationship between class and sexism? How do the different ‘waves’ of feminism developed in the west map, and not map, onto women’s struggles in other parts of the world? How does socialism relate to women’s emancipation? How are women of colour oppressed not only by social racism but also by racism within the feminist movement?

As Claire Heuchan, who blogs at Sister Outrider, recently put the relationship between racism and feminism:

'Being stuck between men of colour and white women is like being trapped between a rock and a hard place – women of colour are encouraged to accept misogyny or racism as our lot in life and liberation politics, depending upon which group we’re aligned with. Men of colour are quick to assure us that whatever misogyny they subject us to is small fry in comparison to the harms white supremacy acts upon women of colour. White women fall over themselves in the rush to claim that racism is a minor issue compared to the real threat of patriarchy.'

‘Intersectionality’ has become a popular way, particularly online, of attempting to analyse the way in which multiple oppressions overlap – taken up from the work of US lawyer and university professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who pointed out, as Heuchan does too, that racism and sexism must be understood as intertwined and simultaneous, if they are to be understood at all:

'Feminist efforts to politicize experiences of women and antiracist efforts to politicize experiences of people of color have frequently proceeded as though the issues and experiences they each detail occur on mutually exclusive terrains. Although racism and sexism readily intersect in the lives of real people, they seldom do in feminist and antiracist practices. And so, when the practices expound identity as woman or person of color as an either/or proposition, they relegate the identity of women of color to a location that resists telling.'

The internet has proved an increasingly interesting tool in the development of feminist consciousness, not only for popularizing terms such as ‘intersectionality’, but also for organizing feminist activism. It can also, as many people will have experienced, be a place of fierce disagreement, hostility and disingenuousness. Recognizing aggression in ourselves and others is an endless task, offline or on.

The work of thinking through the ways in which racist violence, of the kinds identified by Black Lives Matter, relates to sexist violence in all its complexity, is increasingly taking place. But nothing will change unless white people recognize their role in perpetuating racism in all aspects of life: socially, economically, politically.

Making the links: feminism, socialization and loss

What I want to focus on here, bearing in mind the importance of not separating feminism from anti-racist and other anti-oppression struggles, is one aspect (socialization) of Mitchell’s four-part structure and plan for a women’s liberation movement worthy of the name (recall: production, reproduction, sexuality and socialization). Although Mitchell’s article was published more than half a century ago, it remains an utterly clear account of the themes and challenges that confront feminism in the twenty-first century.

So, what is socialization today? How does it relate to feminism and what we might call a ‘feminist counter-power’ recognizable in the global marches, strikes and protests?

The socialization of girls and boys is a matter of great anxiety for parents and teachers alike, and it is made all the more difficult in the face of the all-pervasive presence of advertising, gender stereotypes, images of ‘beautiful’ people, and the social pressure to conform to particular roles and norms on the basis of sex.

Pink girls aisle at US store

It strikes me, as someone who grew up in the 1980s and was a teenager in the 1990s, that the pressure to conform to gender roles and stereotypes has grown exponentially. I remember very few ‘pink’ objects in my childhood, although there were of course dolls and kitchen sets, but refusing them in favour of much more interesting toys and books was much more of an option than it seems to be now.

Cynically, we might say that ‘gender’ is merely a symptom of the market, which can profit by promoting gender stereotypes. Certainly, this has to be part of it. But I also think something has been lost, and what we lost, or are losing, was actually a feminist victory, and one of the great successes of the ‘second wave’.

By analysing the way in which gender was imposed on those bodies sexed as male and female, second-wave feminism made it possible to break with the idea that sex determined gender. In other words, that, while biology is a fact, the expectations and impositions placed on bodies called ‘male’ and ‘female’ were wholly social, and, as such, could be changed. Girls and boys could and should like whatever they like, wear whatever they want, play however they want.

This idea is very clearly revolutionary, as it suggests that girls can refuse to be decorative, submissive and so on, and boys can refuse to be aggressive and domineering. It means, in principle, that boys and girls can grow up to work in whichever job they like, have whatever hobbies they like, be whoever they like.

The fact that this feminist idea had so filtered down to become something of a common thought and practice makes it a key example of feminist counter-power and a genuine shift towards the liberation from gender stereotypes.

Socialization is a very hard thing to shift, however, and for every feminist victory there is an extreme pushback

Socialization is a very hard thing to shift, however, and for every feminist victory there is an extreme pushback, as we have witnessed in recent years, for example, where gender stereotypes seem to be pushed on us at every turn.

Upsetting as it is to realise, the way girls and women are still socialized into making sure men’s feelings aren’t hurt, and into trying to smooth over difficult social situations, surely contributed to the very slow process of exposing male abuse under the #metoo movement. Not wanting to be seen as ‘difficult’ makes it harder for girls and women to stand up against harassment.

Similarly, boys and men being encouraged to feel entitled to women’s time and affection, even where it is clearly unwanted, is still a more-or-less ubiquitous dimension of masculinity. Those men and women who break with these gendered norms are often punished for it with ostracism, threats and violence. But we should stand up for ‘masculine’ women and ‘feminine’ men, with a view to eventually de-gendering likes, hobbies and employment.

So, how do we collectively organize against the harm done to women? Although men are also often very violent to each other, feminism’s focus must primarily be on the rights and protection of girls and women. And, lest we believe that straight abusive men don’t know who they’re targeting, they do not, as many have pointed out, attempt the same things with men. They know very well what it is to target women on the basis of sex, and will often use physical and social intimidation (threats) to coerce and manipulate women into compliance.

I think it is important to note that feminism does not see women as victims, but precisely the opposite, despite cries in some quarters that #metoo is an attempt to reduce women to passive, desire-less beings. On the contrary, it is feminism that sees an end to the sex-based victimization of girls and women, so that they may live more freely, and be sexual beings on their own terms.

What #metoo has done is to make explicit the global ubiquity of men’s sexual harassment and abuse of women. There is a sense of enormous solidarity in the campaign, a collective undermining of the shame women are taught to internalize whenever something unwanted happens to them.

Where men were shocked, perhaps some of them will remain awake to the reality of many men’s attitudes to and treatment of women. Perhaps some of them will intervene to stop it in their lives and when they see it happening (though, of course, much harassment is deliberately done precisely where no-one else is there to see it). It could change workplaces as much as anti-sexual harassment legislation ever did.

The sheer scale of abuse, and the attempts to blackmail, sue and manipulate women into keeping quiet explain a great deal of female silence and acquiescence – you will be crushed if you reveal it.

But no more.

Everything that damages women, that restricts their freedom, can be stopped with feminist counter-power – and all the many different forms this takes. Female foeticide, forced marriage, rape, sexual assault and everyday sexism can all be stopped. If we can imagine an end to something, we can also imagine how it is we might get there.

Protecting women's rights: an endless struggle

Protecting rights is a perpetual project. Those in charge, those who like and are the status quo, will never shift without an endless struggle.

When women’s refuges are being closed, groups such as Sisters Uncut are there to fight for women’s rights. But we can never rely on others to do what we could also do ourselves.

I think that feminism was long seen as outdated, a completed project. I think various subtle (and not-so-subtle) campaigns were waged to get young women to identify as non- or anti-feminists.

But feminism is on the ascendency again, and women and girls can see through the positions that adopt ‘feminism’ as their slogan but whose politics are war-mongering (the type of right-wing liberal ‘feminism’ that claims to desire to liberate women overseas), consumerist (the ‘feminism’ that sees buying things as emancipation, and that market ‘choice’ is paramount), or corporate (the ‘feminism’ that suggests women must ‘lean in’ to be taken seriously by capitalism).

Drawing power from a ‘negative’ unity

Feminist counter-power can build upon the quality of the public discussion regarding #metoo. While girls and women have different experiences of life in terms of class and ethnicity (though there are, of course, intense patterns there too), virtually every woman has had an experience of sexism, whether being treated as less important than men, shouted at, sexualized, harassed, or worse.

There is something that unites women, and even though it is a ‘negative’ unity – in that what links women is their poor treatment and hierarchical placement as the ‘second sex’ – it can nevertheless become a source of great unity and power, once it is recognized. So much harmful treatment depends upon the inculcation of shame in the person being mistreated.

Feminist counter-power can turn this shame around and force confrontation. The better we get at standing up against bullying and harassment in our personal life, the less we will tolerate it in political life.

It should have been impossible for Trump to be elected after his admission of sexual harassment, and after many women came forward to speak out against his offensive behaviour.

We must make it impossible in future for those who do such things ever to be in charge of everyone else. Not through violence and coercion, which are the techniques our opponents use, but with reserves of strength and wisdom that come from being kept back and treated badly. We know our enemies better than they know us, and that is just one of our many strengths.

12. Court stops construction of Kenya’s coal power plant. Petitioners from Lamu celebrating the judgment of the National Environment Tribunal, 26 June (Twitter/(@deCOALonize)

Sudan’s Third Revolution

Sudan’s “Third revolution” began in the northern town of Atbara in December 2018. Street protests began after the removal of a wheat subsidy, escalating to sustained civil disobedience for about eight months. The protests led to a major political shift, when President Omar al-Bashir was deposed after thirty years in power.

A Transitional Military Council (TMC) replaced al-Bashir, but protesters held their ground, and in July and August 2019 the TMC and the civilian-led Forces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) signed a Political Agreement and a Draft Constitutional Declaration legally defining a planned 39-month phase of transitional state institutions and procedures to return Sudan to civilian democracy.

In August and September 2019, the TMC formally transferred executive power to a mixed military–civilian collective head of state, the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, and to a civilian prime minister (Abdalla Hamdok) and a mostly civilian cabinet, while judicial power was transferred to Nemat Abdullah Khair, Sudan’s first female Chief Justice.

Chilean protests challenge neoliberal state

The 2019 Chilean protests are ongoing. The protests began in Santiago, Chile’s capital, as a coordinated fare evasion campaign by secondary school students protesting increases in metro fares. This led to spontaneous takeovers of the city’s main train stations and eventually to open confrontations with the Chilean Police.

These protests morphed into a nationwide call to address inequality and improve social services. Soon millions were on the streets, forcing President Sebastián Piñera to increase benefits for the poor and disadvantaged,and to start a process of constitutional reform.

On 25 October, over a million people protested against President Piñera, demanding his resignation. Piñera has already canceled some interest payments on student loans, but protesters are demanding more relief for education payments and related debt.

5.5 million women form human chain in Kerala, India

On Jan. 1, 2019, 5.5 million women in the Indian state of Kerala (population 35 million) built a 386-mile human chain, spanning almost the entire state,to bring light to the issues women face in India.

The women gathered and took a vow to “defend the renaissance traditions” of their state, and to work towards women’s empowerment. In particular, they marched for an end to violence and intimidation against women trying to enter Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, a popular Hindu pilgrimage site.

Undoubtedly larger than the historical Women’s March in Washington, D.C. in 2017, this was one of the largest mobilizations in the world for women’s rights.

Algerian protests pave the way towards democracy

These protests, without precedent since the Algerian Civil War, have been peaceful and led the military to insist on president Bouteflika’s immediate resignation, which took place on 2 April 2019. By early May, a significant number of power-brokers close to the deposed administration, including the former president’s younger brother Saïd, had been arrested.

On 1 November, the metro was shut down in Algiers and trains into the city were canceled following a social media campaign calling for demonstrations. Police roadblocks also caused traffic jams. For the 37th weekly Friday protest, which coincided with the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the start of the Algerian War for independence from France, tens of thousands of demonstrators called for all members of the system of power in place to be dismissed and for a radical change in the political system.

There has not been an overhaul of the political regine, and protestors have returned to the streetsafter an election held on 12 December, arguing that the winner Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74,and the four other candidates were closely linked with the rule of the deposed Mr Bouteflika.

The statement calls on member states to “promote alternatives to conviction and punishment in appropriate cases, including the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use”.

While a number of UN agencies have made similar calls in the past, this CEB statement means it is now the common position for the entire UN family of agencies. Crucially, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime – the lead UN agency on drug policy – has also endorsed the position; finally clarifying their previously ambiguous position on decriminalisation.

The statement also positions drug policy clearly within public health, human rights, and sustainable development agendas. It represents a welcome and significant step towards ‘system wide coherence’ within the UN system on drug policy.

This has been a key call of civil society groups long frustrated by the lack of coherence across the UN and the marginalisation of health, rights and development agendas by UN drug agencies whose historic orientation has been towards punishment, law enforcement and eradication.

The United Kingdom bans fracking

In October, Scotland banned fracking with immediate effect, arguing that it is “incompatible” with tackling the climate change emergency.The Scottish government said the position of “no support” for fracking followed “a comprehensive period of evidence-gathering and consultation” that started in 2013. The decision thus came after six years of deliberations.In November, England also put a halt to fracking in a watershed moment for environmentalists and community activists.

The decision has been welcomed as a “victory for common sense” by green groups and campaigners who have fought for almost a decade against the controversial fossil fuel extraction process.

Same-sex marriage reform in Asia

Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage on 24 May 2019, following a 2017 constitutional court ruling. Despite intense local and regional opposition, Taiwan became the first nation in Asia to permit same-sex marriage.

Thailand seems to be well on its way to becoming the second Asian country, and the first in South-East Asia, to legalize same sex unions.

Court stops construction of Kenya’s coal power plant

Kenyan judges stopped plans to construct the country’s first ever coal-powered plant near the coastal town of Lamu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Local communities and criticsargued that the plant would have dire economic and health effects.

A tribunal canceled the license issued by the National Environmental Management Authority, arguing that the Authority had failed to conduct a thorough environmental assessment.The tribunal ordered developer Amu Power to undertake a new evaluation. The environmental court also faulted the Chinese-backed power plant for failing to adequately consult the public about the initiative, and cited insufficient and unclear plans for handling and storing toxic coal ash.

The project has drawn protests since its inception, with environmentalists saying coal has no place in a country that already develops most of its energy from hydroelectric and geothermal power. Campaigners have also argued that the plant will devastate the island of Lamu, a major tourist attraction, a UNESCO heritage site, and the oldest and best-preserved example of a Swahili settlement in East Africa.

The ruling was a win for environmental activists and local communities, who for three years argued the coal plant would not only pollute the air but also damage the fragile marine ecosystem and devastate the livelihoods of fishing communities.

While the latest verdict delays the coal plant’s development, it doesn’t put an end to it. Amu Power can still apply for a new license or appeal the decision within the next month. For now, though, local communities are celebrating the win.

Public banks are being embraced across the United States

In October 2019, AB 857 — the grassroots-generated, people-powered Public Banking Act — became law in California. This was the outcome of years of work by the California Public Banking Alliance, which did the work of educating legislators, drafting language, and generating massive statewide public support for the bill.

The bill opens the way for public banks to offer a people-controlled alternative to the private, profit-driven Wall Street banks that have failed to serve the public. It paves the way for a growth in public banking in California, the largest state economy in the largest national economy in the world.

Progressives and conservatives across the United States are pursuing more than twenty-five initiatives for public banks. Thirty of the fitty states have proposed legislation in support of publicly-owned banks, and more than fifty organisations are promoting public banks.

Listen to our podcast on Public Banks to see why this is a big development.

Hong Kong protestors showresilience and creativity in face of repression

Hong Kong has been rocked by pro-democracy, anti-government protests for more than five months now. The protests began in June with one main objective—for the government to withdraw a controversial bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China. Critics worried Beijing could use the bill to prosecute people for political reasonsunder China’s opaque legal system.

By the time Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, agreed to withdraw the bill, it was too late to quell the movement, which quickly grew to include five major demands, all of them related to expansion of democratic space.

The protests have also led to big pro-democracy votes in their legislature, and some of the biggest mobilizations for democracy ever seen. The protests are ongoing at the time of writing, but Lam’s capitulation to the first demand has only emboldened protesters to pursue more substantial concessions.

Swiss women strike for gender equality

Hundreds of thousands of Swiss women went on strike to protest gender inequalities on 14 June 2019, precisely 28 years after the historic 1991 women’s strike in Switzerland that pressured the government to implement a constitutional amendment on gender equality. The 1991 strike led to the passage of the Gender Equality Act five years later, giving women legal protections from discrimination and gender bias in the workplace.

The women’s strike – known as Frauenstreik (German) and Grève des Femmes (French) online – consisted of demonstrations in the country’s major municipalities for equal pay, recognition of unpaid care work, and governmental representation.

The Swiss Parliament in Bern honored the strike with a 15-minute break in its business. In Basel, a giant fist was projected onto the Roche pharmaceutical company building. In some cities, protesters changed the names of streets to honor women. The Swiss paper, Le Temps, left sections blank where articles edited or written by women would have run.

While demands for equal pay dominated the strike, marchers also called for better protections against domestic violence and workplace harassment.

School kids and workers lead historic wave of climate actions

As global temperatures heat up, so too do demands for action. 2019 saw movements such as Extinction Rebellion, the Week of Global mobilization at the United Nations, and many other protests worldwide.

In September, youth climate activists across the world went on strike to demand immediate action from policy makers, in what has been described as the biggest protest and mobilization since the Anti-Iraq War marches. They brought the issues of climate and labour together by calling for a global climate strike in September 2019. An historic 7.6 million students, (grand) parents and workers from 185 countries participated. More than 70 trade unions around the world supported the general strike and the number of climate groups demanding just-transitions for fossil fuel workers are steadily increasing.

Investors are significant shareholders if they own over 5% of a company’s shares. The sample of firms here are the largest 205 public and private firms across the world, who have more than $50 billion in 2014 sales.

Public Institutions

An Institution is considered ‘public’ if guided by a public mandate, governed under public law and/or publicly-owned by state authorities or public sector entities.

Quantitative Easing

QE is an unconventional monetary policy aimed to stimulate economic activity. Central banks create new money and use this to buy government and corporate bonds from financial markets.

Top 17 Asset Management Firms

BlackRock, US

Vanguard Group, US

JP Morgan Chase, US

Allianz SE, Germany

UBS, Switzerland

Bank of America Merrill Lynch US

Barclays plc, UK

State Street Global Advisors, US

Fidelity Investments (FMR), US

Bank of New York Mellon, US

AXA Group, France

Capital Group, US

Goldman Sachs Group, US

Credit Suisse, Switzerland

Prudential Financial, US

Morgan Stanley & Co., US

Amundi/Crédit Agricole, France

G30

The Group of Thirty (G30) is a privately funded international group of 30 top financiers, academics and policy makers, whose aim is to influence policy and discourse in international finance and global politics.

Trilateral Commission

The Trilateral Commission is an unofficial (i.e. not officially overseen by governments) organisation where 375 global elites from 40 countries meet to tackle pressing international issues.

Shadow Banking

Shadow banking are financial institutions which lie outside of the formal banking regulatory system despite performing similar functions to banks, such as providing credit. Due to this, they raise and lend money more easily, but with considerably more risk.